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Author: Creswell, Paul D.
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Creswell, Paul D.
Personal Bankruptcy and the Health of Families and Children
Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2014
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Bankruptcy; Body Mass Index (BMI); CESD (Depression Scale); Child Health; Debt/Borrowing; Ethnic Differences; Family Income; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Height; Height, Height-Weight Ratios; Home Ownership; Incarceration/Jail; Insurance, Health; Mobility, Residential; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Regions

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Poor health, lack of insurance coverage, and medical debt may be key factors underlying the rise of personal bankruptcy in the United States. However, research on the connections between health and personal bankruptcy is limited. Moreover, research has yet to explore the relationship between family bankruptcy and the health and mental health of dependent children. The goal of this thesis is to address these gaps in our understanding of bankruptcy and scaffold future research and policy efforts. Chapter I provides background on bankruptcy in the US and introduces a theoretical context for the topic of bankruptcy emphasizing life course and social ecological frameworks. Chapter II describes the characteristics of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult Cohort (NLSCYA) which provided the data source for the analyses. Chapter III presents the results multiple logistic regression models which seek to identify if and to what extent health factors are associated with bankruptcy filings over a twenty-year period while considering an array of potentially relevant covariates. Chapter IV furthers the analysis through the use of Cox regression models to account for the time-dependent and dynamic nature of life events (e.g. unemployment, health changes, and familial shifts). Chapter V considers the relationships between family bankruptcy and children's health and mental health using multi-state Markov models to compare the intensity of transitions into (and out of) health and mental health states for children in bankrupt and non-bankrupt households. The results of these analyses indicate that several health factors (e.g. smoking, obesity, and depressive symptomology) are associated with an increased hazard of declaring bankruptcy while health insurance coverage is associated with a lower hazard of bankruptcy. Several sociodemographic characteristics are also associated with bankruptcy. Finally, the relative hazard of a child being indicated for an emotional or behavioral problem is 56% higher for children in a family where bankruptcy is declared (HR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.10 - 2.19). In contrast, relative hazard of a family-level bankruptcy is 56% higher in families where a child is indicated as having an activity limitation (HR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.06 - 2.29).
Bibliography Citation
Creswell, Paul D. Personal Bankruptcy and the Health of Families and Children. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2014.
2. Creswell, Paul D.
Witt, Whitney
Health Limitations and Additional Predictors of Personal Bankruptcy: A Longitudinal Analysis
Presented: Washington, DC, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Annual Fall Research Conference, November 7-9, 2013
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM)
Keyword(s): Bankruptcy; Health Factors; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Unemployment

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N=6,259), we computed Cox proportional hazards models to explore which covariates increased time-to-bankruptcy over a 20-year period (1984-2004). The variables considered were theoretically derived from the existing literature on bankruptcy. Analyses assessed both time-variant and static covariates.

During the period under analysis, 13% of the sample reported declaring bankruptcy. Experiencing a health limitation or an unemployment spell were each independently associated with shorter times-to-bankruptcy (HR: 1.30; CI: 1.07-1.57 and HR: 1.33; CI: 1.07-1.65, respectively). Being female, longer residency in the U.S., and having parents with lower levels of education were additional risk factors. Compared to remaining unmarried, experiencing marriage or divorce also increased the hazard of bankruptcy (HR: 1.79; CI: 1.45-2.21 and HR: 2.26; 1.80-2.84, respectively).

Bibliography Citation
Creswell, Paul D. and Whitney Witt. "Health Limitations and Additional Predictors of Personal Bankruptcy: A Longitudinal Analysis." Presented: Washington, DC, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Annual Fall Research Conference, November 7-9, 2013.